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2024 In Review: Day 14 – Other Recognition

By Jung Bae | January 28, 2025

2024 In Review

1. Introduction + Best Album Art
2. Song of the Year
3. Album of the Year
4. R&B and Soul
5. Rock and Alternative
6. Rap and Hip-hop
7. Dance and Electronic
8. Pop and Ballad
9. Folk and Country
10. Jazz, Crossover and World
11. Best Collaborative Work
12. Rookie Artist of the Year
13. Artist of the Year
14. Other Recognition
15. Concluding Remarks

If this is your first time reading our series, the “Other Recognition” post is where we make up a bunch of “award” categories that you’re not likely to see elsewhere. There are some categories that may be reasonable, but here we run the gamut from the merely atypical to the downright cherry-picked. (Spoiler alert: there’s way more of the latter.) Naturally, the categories change every year, though some like “best title” tend to recur.

All these things caught our fancy for one reason or another this year, and it’s a fun way to recognize even more artists and their work for different kinds of excellence, or in some cases, give a gentle ribbing. Most of these did not appear in the main series, so hopefully you will find a new favorite listen or two out of these selections.

Here they are, in alphabetical order.

Best Collaboration by a Real-Life Couple: Ash Island – OST (Feat. Chanmina)

Best Debut Coming Out of a University Department: Z.peline – Shoot & More, coming out of Howon University’s Department of K-pop.

Best Environmentally Minded Song: Northfacegawd – 자연보호 (The Green Planet) (Feat. J-Tong), which is actually just a good track in its own right.

Best Feel-Good Reunion Story: Fiestar, which came back together for the group’s 12-year anniversary without any agency backing, based on member Cao Lu’s personal investment.

Best Intro Track: call it a tie between Seo Ja-young – Intro and Band Nah – :59.

Best Lyrical Gimmick: Kim Yuna – 부사의 정원 (The Garden of Adverbs) (Feat. Lee Hi), constructed almost entirely out of adverbs.

Best Music Video: As always, no pretense of completeness here; here’s a list of what caught my eye this year.

Aespa – Armageddon
Dalsoobin – 먹 (Muck)
Danpyunsun and the Moments Ensemble – 독립 (Independent)
Doyoung – 시리도록 눈부신 (The Story)
DPR Ian – Saint
Dress – Is the Only (Feat. Sion, Lee Kang-seung)
Ha Hyun-sang – 서로가 없는 곳 (Where Am I)
IU – Love Wins All
Le Sserafim – Crazy
Lee Seung-yoon – 역성 (Anthems of Defiance)
Lim Kim – 궁 (Ult)
Oh My Girl – Classified
Park Ji-yoon – 사랑을 사랑하고 싶어 (Love Was My Song)
RM – Lost!
Saay – Domino
Sohyang – Blessing (Feat. YDG)
Younha – 태양물고기 (Sunfish)
Youra Mandong – 무수히 (Countlessly)

Best Parody Track: Men’s Tear – AK47, followed by Stella Jang – 지구는 평평 (Earth Is Flat).

Best Remastered Album: Uptown – Back II Analog

Best Self-Remake: Kim Kyung-ho – For 2000 AD (ver. 2024) (Feat. Kim Jong-seo, Park Wan-gyu, Jeong Hong-il, Kwak Dong-hyeon)

Best Track About Divisive Foods: Northfacegawd – 최고의 음식 (Favorite Food) (Feat. Don Mills)

Best Use of Panning: Kim Sawol – 디폴트 (Default)

Fastest Tempo Reached in a Song: Probably the ending of Yangbans – Here It Comes!

Longest Amount of Time Between Debut and Full Album: Soulman (21 years). He’s had full-lengths as part of Heritage, Soulciety and Soulman & Minos, but this is his first solo-billed full-length.

Longest-Term Comeback:

Cleo – You’re Mine was the group’s first release of any kind in 21 years, albeit with only Chae Eun-jung returning from the original lineup.
Zzzaam – 빛나 (Shine) was the band’s first full-length album in 21 years also, after breaking a 20-year hiatus with singles in 2023.
BMK – 33.3 was her first full-length album in 16 years.
Sistar19 – No More (Ma Boy) was the subunit’s first activity in 11 years and a direct sequel to boot.
Nam Gyuri – Halo followed 10 years after her last solo-billed single.
Nastyona – 완벽한 흉터.13 (Perfect Scar.13) was the band’s first release of any kind in 8 years, and was followed by a flurry of singles throughout 2024.

Longest Title: Yoon Dambecc – 나의 취미생활일 뿐, 저작권료 신경 안 쓰고 씨X 내맘대로 (idgaf about copyright fees and do whatever the f**k I want)

Most Homages Packed into a Song: Don Malik – K’up, where almost every other line seems like a reference to a song.

Most Political Track without Lyrics: Kirara – 여야 (Two Parties)

Most Name Value in a Redebut: Chanze – Dive In, featuring drummer Jeong Yong-wook and guitarist Im Sang-muk from Crash, guitarist Kim Soo-han from Diablo, and the pop-rock pioneer Hong Kyung-min.

Most Unexpected Continuation of an Old Music Video: K.will – 내게 어울릴 이별 노래가 없어 (No Sad Song for My Broken Heart), continuing on from the twist ending of 2012’s “이러지마 제발 (Please Don’t…)”.

Most Unfortunately Coincidental Title: Dam1noise – 계엄선포 (I’m Back) (Feat. Deepflow, Ice Puff), whose Korean title reads “Martial Law Declaration” and came out about six weeks before that actually happened in Korea. (It was then re-released in an EP a mere five days before the real thing.)

Shortest and Sweetest Track: Sokodomo – 안녕하세요 (Ann Yeong Ha Sé Yo), clocking in at two seconds.